Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

Part 5 of 5

Perhaps more so than in any other discipline, philosophy is best understood as a "great conversation" held across hundreds of years. All philosophers-and we are all philosophers or their followers-have the same eternal questions. What is the nature of the world? What can we know about it? How should we behave? How should we govern ourselves and each other? Socrates and Nietzsche wanted to answer these questions. Aristotle and Hegel wanted answers to these questions. Scientists and artists want answers to these questions. These lectures return to abiding issues confronted by each new age and thinker. They are more than a collection of the thoughts of various geniuses; they link their concerns across centuries, making their debates our own. Professor Daniel N. Robinson focuses on the Long Debate about the nature of self and self identity; the authority of experience and the authority of science; the right form of life, just in case you have the right theory of human nature. On what philosophical precepts does the rule of law depend? What are the philosophical justifications for respect of the individual? What legal and moral implications arise from the claim of our "autonomy"? On what basis, philosophically, did we ever come to regard ourselves as outside the order of nature? In the nature of things there are no final answers, but some are better than others.